Improvement in middlings-purifiers



, 2Shets--Sheeth R. R. BRYSN @L S. C. MGMASTEB.

Midd`lings Purifiers.'

Patented. May 19. 15374.

No.l5l,08l.

2 Sheets--Shelt 2.

R. R. BRYSDN @1.4 S. C. MGMASTEB.

Mi'ddlrings Puriers. Patented May 1 9, 1874.

'rauen'.

ROBERT R. B RYSON, OF TARENTUM, AND SAMUEL O. MCMASTER, OF

SEWIOKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPRVEMNT iN MIDDLINGSPURIFIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. ELOL dated May 19,1374; application filed 4 February l0, 1&74.f

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT lt. BnvsoN, of Tarentuin, and SAMUEL G.McMAsrER, of Sewiclrley, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machine forPurifying Middlings; and we do hereby declare the following to be aVfull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a perspective view of our improved machine, and Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section of the same.

Our invention consists of certain improvements in machines for purifyingmiddlings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention,wewill describe its construction and mode of operation.

The middlings are supplied through the spout a. At the lower end of thisspout, so as to receive its contents, is an inclined board, b, having aseries of cleats upon its face, which are designed for the purpose ofdistributing and spreading middlin gs. The middlings, passing over theboard b, are deposited on a board, c, at the end of the sieve d, suchboard having a vibrating shake motion with the sieve. At the rear end ofthe board c is y along narrow slot or opening, which leads down to thesieve d, and is designed to deliver themiddlings thereon in-a thinstream sol that they shall be thoroughly exposed to the action of asuctionblast, the spout e of -which opens at that point before they fallupon the sieve. The sieve d runs the full length of the machine, and isslightly inclined through its entire length. The bottom of this sieve iscovered with bolting-cloth, as at all. This bolting-cloth is placed uponframes, so as to form sections, as indicated at d2, which sectionscontinue throughout the 'whole length ofthe sieve. The object of thesection is that the cloth may be taken out to be renewed, or so thatfiner or coarser cloth may be inserted for bolting correspondingmaterial. J ust in front of the inner end of the board c is ablast-spout, e, which, leading up, passes back to the fan el, and isfurnished with a discharge-opening, e2. The object of this blast is todraw up and carry the lighter impurities and particles from themiddlings as they fall over the edge of the board c in a thin anddistributed stream. The balance of the middlingsv falls upon theinclined sieve d. A shaking' movement is communicated to the sieve d bymeans of the ratchetwheel cl3, situated at one end of the machine, andby the spring d4, which operates against a lug on the side of the sieve.The ratchetwheel, by its inclines, forces the sieve d back, so as toforce the lug at its side against the spring d4 and compress it. As soonas the ratchet has passed the engaging end of the sieve the springthrowsit forward onto the next ratchet. At the rear'end of the machine, justabove the opening d5, is a blast-spout, f, which leads up and along thetop of the machine to a fan, f1, which has a discharge, f2, and issimilar in construction to the blast-spout and fan e. In each of theseblast-spouts, arranged between the suction-opening and the fan, are twovalves, g and g1, the rst of which, g, serves to regulate the blast, butthe second, g1, is intended to separate the heavier from the lighterparticles. For instance, if the balance of material passing over islight, the valve g1 will be made tohang nearly vertically, so as to givea vertical surface against which the material will impinge; while ifmuch heavy material is in the blast, then the valve will be made topresent a more inclined surface for the material to iinpinge upon. lhusthe valve g1 may be called a separator. Vhe'n opened, these fans deflectthe impurities from the middlin gs in their course through the spouts,and cause the heavier particles to be cast downward, while the lighterones, by the strength of the blast passing around the lower end of thevalves, ascend and pass out the dischargeopenings f2 and e2.`Theheavierportions, being deflected in their course by the valves, arecast down into the pockets f3 and e3, each of which is fitted with asuitable door, f4 and e4, through which these heavier portions may bedrawn off. By these means we are enabled to catch and save a valuableportion which heretofore has been blown directly out and lost. Theblast-spout j' operates at the rear end of the machine and of the sieved in precisely the same manner as the blast-spout e operates at theforward end, except that it has greater power. The iirst blast,operating as it does on the valuable material, is necessarily weak, toprevent its carrying olf the valuable mateits escape.

rial. The greater part of this is bolted through the cloth before thesecond blast is reached, which, operating on the coarser and heavierresiduum, is of greatly-increased power. Extending along the full lengthof the machine underneath the sieve el is a spout, h, having inclinedsides, and in this spout is a spiral screw or conveyer. This conveyer isdesigned to work forward the material which falls through the sieve d tothe dischargeopening h1, whence it is drawn by means of 4a suitablespout or conductor. This portion of the middlings is purified, and needsno further operation. At the rear end of the eonveyer 7c the screwthread is reversed in, its direction, so that, while the conveyer isturning to feed forward, the last turn k1 of the screw feeds backward.The reasonfor this is that the unpuritied middlings which pass .throughthe opening d5, falling into the trough h, must be passed on through thenext sieve and not mixed with the finished middlings in the trough h..Just under the opening d5 is an opening, h2, by which the middlingsstill uupuriiied are permitted to fall on the second sieve c'. Thissieve is similar in construction to the sieve d. It inclinesslightly/from the rear end of the machine forward and has a shakingmotion communicated by similar devices, such as the ratchet-wheel il andspring t2, as those which communicate a similar motion to the sieve d.At the front end of the sieve i there is an opening, i4, through whichsuch middlings as pass forward the whole length of the sieve shall fall.Under the sieve there is a trough, l, having inclined sides similar tothe trough h, which is provided with a conveyer, fm, similar to theconveyer L. In the bottom of the trough l there are a series of slides,closing openings, as indicated at a. The middlings which go through thesievei fall into the trough Z and are carried along by the conveyer anddischarged through any of the openings m, the slides n1 being opened forThe refuse, or that portion which does not pass the sieve, passesforward and out through the opening 4 and falls down into the trough Z,and thence through the opening n, at the forward end of such trough, theslide a2, which closes the same having been opened to permit its escape.The contents of the trough lfall into a second trough, o, just beneath,the latter being provided with a screw-conveyer, p, similar to that inthe trough l, but having its screw running in the opposite direction, soas to carry the stuil' forward to the front end of the machine, thecoarser and refuse matter which goes through the hole i* and the rsthole nl passing out of the first hole o1 and into a proper receptacle.The purified middlings which passed l[he last sievez pass out throughthe holes o2 into a second receptacle. Mounted upon rollers u, which aredriven by power by means of a belt and band-wheel, are the belts uf,which carry brushes w made of sheep-skin with the wool still upon them.The function of these brushes is to clean the screen over which theypass. It will be noticed that they are arranged over and so as tooperate upon each sieve d and l by a steady rubbing pressure. Thesebrushes being made of the soft, close, untanned sheep-skin, andoperating by a steady, rm rubbing pressure, are very superiorandfdecidedly preferable to the brushes formed of bristles, the tendencyof the latter being to wear out the bolting-cloths and to raise the dustwithout removing it. In our machine the dust is taken up by the brushes.

Power is applied to this machine by means of the belt w, whichoperates'the shaft w', from which a belt, l, extends to the wheels 2,and operates, by means of the shaft 3 and ratchetwheel il, the sieve i.A band from the other end of the shaft w extends to the wheel 4, whichoperates the shaft 5. This shaft, by means of its ratchet d3, operatesthe sieve d. A band, 6, from the shaft 5 to the wheel 7, operates theconveyer m, which, at its opposite end, by means of the spur-wheels 8,operates the conveyer o, and, by means of the band 9 and' wheel l0, theconveyer 7L. A band, 1l, from the shaft 5 to the wheel 12, operates thebolting-cloth brushes of the sieve d. A band, 13, from the shaft 3 tothe wheel 14, operates the brushes of the bolting-cloth of the sieve t'.The fans, being mounted upon the shaft w', are operated thereby.

It is evident that other known means and ways of applying power may beused, and hence this may be regulated bythe wish of the builder and thesize and position of the machine.

We are aware that brushes are usually employed beneath the sieve forcleaning the same. This we do not claim. The object of our brush, whichis located above and works upon the middlings passing over the sieve, isto remove -all fuzz or fibrous substance which works through the clothand obstrncts the sieve, causing said material to move over the sieve atthe same rate as the middlings.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The combination of the suction-fans and blast-spouts e f andreciprocating sieve, arranged with each other to operate on the materialas it is fed to the sieve, and upon the residuum passing over the tailend of the'sieve, substantially as described.

2. In a middlingspnrier, the combination, with the reciprocating sieve,of a brush arranged to traverse over the upper surface thereof forremoving the fuzz or other fibrous substances, substantially in themanner described.

In testimony whereot we, the said ROBERT R. BRYsoN and SAMUEL C.McMAsTER, have hereunto set our hands.

ROBERT It. BRYSON. SAMUEL C. MGMASTER.

Witnesses J AMEs I. KAY, T. B. KERR.

